What's a Christmas Noche Buena without a ham or a quezo de bola?
Noche Buena or Holy Night, is a Christmas dinner for the family usually served after the Misa de Gallo (Rooster's Mass), a Catholic mass held on the eve of Christmas day.
The type of food varies from one house to another, but there are delicacies a Pinoy family can't do without.
Here is a list of these favorites -- in order.
- Lechon - roasted pig served chopped into pieces and topped with liver sauce (or if you want it ready-made, try Mang Tomas Lechon Sarsa)
- Fruit Salad - various fruits and sweets (apple, pineapple, nata de coco, kaong, etc.) dipped in condensed milk, heavy cream and cheese.
- Ham - roasted and glazed pork thigh, usually a mixture of sweet and salty.
- Barbecue - ihaw ihaw style using pork kasim on a stick, topped with bbq sauce made of ketchup, marinade and vegetable oil.
- Leche flan - baked milk flan, with ingredients of eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Spaghetti - pasta topped with tomato sauce mixed with ground beef, hotdogs, meatballs and cheese.
- Hot chocolate - beverage made of chocolate or cocoa, served hot.
- Macaroni Salad - macaroni noodles, shredded chicken, mayonnaise, condensed milk, cheese and all-purpose cream.
- Quezo de Bola - round-shaped cheese layered with red wax.
- Bibingka and Puto Bumbong - rice cake with galapong (milled glutinous rice), coconut milk and margarine, topped with slices of salted eggs and cheese. The Puto Bumbong, meanwhile, is also a rice cake cooked inside bamboo shoots mixed with ube.